Three Of A Kind, Dev, Dilip & Kishore Options

[swarapriya]

(Dilip) Mughal-E-Azam (1960)


"Mughal-E-Azam" was probably the most magnificent movie ever put on an Indian screen. Every scene of this movie exudes excellence, commitment, compassion, and myriad colors of opulence. Made with such care and love of art and craft, it stood the test of time like the blissful beauty in the center of this movie, the ever enchanting late great Madhubala.

Here are some of the facts surrounding this movie (some of the following material is borrowed from our fellow member Saksham Sharma’s write up)…


-- K. Asif, the producer and director of the movie, originally wanted to make the movie in mid-40’s with Nargis as Anrakali, Chandramohan as Salim, and Sapru as Akbar. The plans were abandoned when Chandramohan died and most of the actors hired to star in the movie migrated to Pakistan after the partition.

-- The movie was in production for nearly a decade.

-- It was the costliest movie ever made until that time.

-- Dilip was sent to London to model so that he can get the best fit of the wig they ordered for his role.

-- Asif Saab originally planned to film the movie in color. But with unusual length the movie was taking to undergo production because of the detailed preparations, he has to bow to the pressures of the financiers and distributors and has to shot the movie in black & white. A couple of songs and the climax were shot in color. But nearly 85% of the movie was in black & white.

-- Asifji oversaw every detail of the movie.

-- Costumes were tailored by Delhi-based professionals.

-- For embroidery, folks from Surat were employed.

-- Jewelry was made by the goldsmiths from Hyderabad.

-- Kolhapur craftsmen took care of the designs of the crowns.

-- Weapons used in the film were made by Rajasthani ironsmiths.

-- To design authentic looking footwear Asif utilized the talents of folks from Agra.

-- The magnificent Mughal Darbar was built by 150 carpenters, many decorators, and several painters.

-- Battle scenes were staged elaborately with thousands in cast. Many of the soldiers used in these scenes came from the Indian Army’s Jaipur regiment. Nearly 8,000 troops were used. They also used 4,000 horses and 2,000 camels. R.D. Mathur, who photographed to movie, used eight different cameras to capture the battle scenes.

-- Madhubala wore real chains for her prison scenes. Because of their weight and the strain and duress caused by them, plus the health problems she was having, she has to nurse her bruises for days before returning to the shooting again.

-- Dilip Kumar was at odds with the director when Asif Saab told him the top billing will be given to Prithviraj Kapoor as the movie was told from his point of view. The situation aggravated when Dilip learned as the movie was progressing that Asif and his younger sister who was a frequent visitor to the shooting were having an affair. An outraged Dilip stopped talking to Asif even though he cooperated in finishing his acting assignment.

-- The movie was dubbed into Tamil and English. Both versions were flops.

-- The song “Pyaar Kiya” was actually shot in the Sheesh Mahal palace for a huge cost.

-- Music director Naushadji worked with the lyricist Shakeel Badayuni Saab many grueling hours that turned into days to get the right effect for the song “Pyaar Kiya”. By one estimate, the lyrics and the music were changed over 100 times before everyone was satisfied with the results.

-- Rafi Saab’s “Zindabad” song had a chorus of 100 singers accompanying him in the song.

-- Many songs were composed for the film by Naushad Saab. But not all of them were used in the film. By one estimate, Naushadji may have composed as many as 20 songs for the film.

-- Bade Ghulam Ali Saab sang two songs for the film. Initially when approached by Naushadji and Asif Saab, Ali Saab declined to sing. The story goes that Ali Saab demanded nearly 100 times the remuneration of other playback singers were getting those days to sing a song. He thought this would get rid of Asif Saab. However, Asif Saab agreed and paid the remuneration demanded.

-- The movie was released and became a roaring success and broke every box-office record of those days.

-- Critics were all praise for the movie. However, Dilip’s performance was heavily criticized as most were of the opinion that he could have done better.

-- The movie received six Filmfare nominations in the categories of the Best Picture, the Best Director, the Best Actress, the Best Music, the Best Dialogues, and the Best Cinematography. It won the awards for the Best Picture, the Best Dialogues, and the Best Cinematography.

-- Asifji refused to accept the award for Best Picture as he was very upset that his film deserved better recognition with more awards and because the judges turned a cold shoulder towards it.


Most personalities associated with this movie have passed away. (The two living legends are Dilip Kumar Saab and Lataji.) That the legacy these folks left behind stood the test of time is evident when this movie was colorized and rereleased in 2004 and became a success.

Naushadji composes some memorably beautiful songs to the lyrics penned by Shakeel Badayuni Saab. Like the legend of "Anarkali" they still stay youthful with overflow of conviction of love.

All songs I am uploading here are from an original soundtrack album and a DVD. The first two posts contain songs from the film. The third post contains a couple of extended version songs.

Now for details of the songs and songs themselves in the first post...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Feb 21 2011, 08:51 AM

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Mughal-E-Azam (1960)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from one of the greatest albums of Naushadji. I am also including here a special version of "Mohe Panghat Pe" with an introduction by Dilip Kumar. It is taken from the album "Legends: Lata Mangeshkar - The Melody Queen (CD2)".

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Mughal-E-Azam (1960)"...

Here are a couple of extended version songs from this album...

[pareshmotiwala]

This is amazing effort, what organization and presentation and quality.
wow....
Keep it up.

[yogihit]

Gr8 SP, thanks again..
a small Q, As you already mentioned, all songs are from an original soundtrack album and a DVD
are all songs ripped from new original released (colored) Version?
i asked because posted info photos are in colored nothing else ..

[swarapriya]

This is amazing effort, what organization and presentation and quality.
wow....
Keep it up.

Thank you very much Paresh for your kind words. These are the things that give an added impetus to go forward with renewed energy and enthusiasm. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Gr8 SP, thanks again..
a small Q, As you already mentioned, all songs are from an original soundtrack album and a DVD
are all songs ripped from new original released (colored) Version?
i asked because posted info photos are in colored nothing else ..

Yogi all are from the original balck & white version that was also shot partly in color. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Kishore) Musafir (1957)

Songs from this beautiful album were recently uploaded in this very same thread. These songs are available starting at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...pid=674906&

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Feb 26 2011, 03:45 AM

[swarapriya]

(Dev) Dev Anand in Goa (Alias Farar) (1955)

This movie has two names; "Dev Anand in Goa" and "Farar". In the movie Dev plays a freedom fighter whose name is Gora. Yet, producers decided to name this strange way. This movie once again paired Dev with the beautiful Geeta Bali. Geeta plays almost the same role of a night club dancer as in their earlier sensational effort "Baazi (1951)".

The standout of the movie is the songs Geeta Dutt sang for Geeta Bali. Geeta (Bali) & Geeta (Dutt), the combination that proved a dynamite in "Baazi" are here again. Geet Dutt displays some of the shades of her singing talent as she had an opportunity to sing different type of songs. She came through in an absolutely adorable fashion.

My only regret with these songs is that their quality could have been better. Overall they are not bad but the annoying noise in the songs almost ruins the goodness these songs have to offer. But noise or not, Geeta's voice is heartwarmingly melodious.

I am uploading an extended version of "Jee Bhar" along with the regular version. The extended version is preceded by nearly 55 minutes of music. Otherwise both songs have the same words in it.

Here are the songs...

[abhayp]

Concluding Songs from "Miss Mary (1957)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this beautiful album...

Swarapriya, feels great to be back and looking at your threads again! As usual, you are uploading great stuff in great quality. I found several songs I didn't have from some of the films you have uploaded now - Ferry, Baadbaan, etc.

A quibble and an addition in "Miss Mary" - 'sakhii rii sun bole' is, of course, a Lata-Asha duet and not a Lata solo - you might want to change the tags in your post. [Since you frequently spring some pleasant surprises in your posts, I downloaded it on the off chance that there *might* be a solo version I hadn't heard of! ]

There is another version of this song that was brought to light - IIRC - by Saksham a couple of years ago. The quality, unfortunately, is not as good as the quality of the version you have posted; I hope the relative rarity of the piece compensates for that!

The standard version has only one stanza; this version has an additional stanza (bairii aisii dhun me.n bole) but runs for the same time because it cuts down drastically on the 'harkat-s' at the beginning of the first stanza and some other improvisations. Both versions are beautiful!



The song is encoded in mp3 @ 128 kbps. Am not repeating all the other credits as they are already mentioned in detail in your post.

Thanks and warm regards,
Abhay

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Miss Mary (1957)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this beautiful album...

Swarapriya, feels great to be back and looking at your threads again! As usual, you are uploading great stuff in great quality. I found several songs I didn't have from some of the films you have uploaded now - Ferry, Baadbaan, etc.

A quibble and an addition in "Miss Mary" - 'sakhii rii sun bole' is, of course, a Lata-Asha duet and not a Lata solo - you might want to change the tags in your post. [Since you frequently spring some pleasant surprises in your posts, I downloaded it on the off chance that there *might* be a solo version I hadn't heard of! ]

There is another version of this song that was brought to light - IIRC - by Saksham a couple of years ago. The quality, unfortunately, is not as good as the quality of the version you have posted; I hope the relative rarity of the piece compensates for that!

The standard version has only one stanza; this version has an additional stanza (bairii aisii dhun me.n bole) but runs for the same time because it cuts down drastically on the 'harkat-s' at the beginning of the first stanza and some other improvisations. Both versions are beautiful!



The song is encoded in mp3 @ 128 kbps. Am not repeating all the other credits as they are already mentioned in detail in your post.

Thanks and warm regards,
Abhay

Hello Abhay,

Welcome back.

Many thanks for your kind words. I did update the table for "Miss Mary" per your suggestion. In your absence, we missed your perceptive observations and thoughtful comments.

Also, thanks for the song to you and Saksham.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

[swarapriya]

(Dilip) Gunga Jumna (1961)

In a book on Mehboob Khan, its author tells how "Gunga Jumna" movie came about. Mehboobji decided to remake his previous acclaimed work "Aurat (1941)." This was the movie "Mother India (1957)." Dilipji, who was a good friend of Mehboob Khan, collaborated with him by making suggestions on how the picture and some of its characters, especially that of Birju, should be developed. Dilipji was convinced that he will be playing that role. But Mehboob Saab had other plans. After casting Nargis as mother, he decided to offer the role of Birju to Sunil Dutt. Dilipji was stunned with this unexpected development that he was not ready for. But Mehboob Saab’s reasoning was that he couldn't imagine Dilip playing Nargis's son.

Dilipji was so upset with Mehboob Saab that he was not even in talking terms with him while "Mother India" was getting ready. Eventually “Mother India” was released and was both a commercial as well as artistic triumph for Mehboob Saab.

During this time Dilipji started looking to come up with a story that countered "Mother India." Finally he decided to write and develop himself the story of "Gunga Jumna". Next he decided to produce the movie himself. Because of this there are so many shades of similarities between "Mother India" and "Gunga Jumna." Both deal with injustices done to a family by a zamindar, both have two brothers one eventually becoming an outlaw and other who upholds law. When "Gunga Jumna" was released, it was also a huge commercial success. Instead of Dilipji running away with all the honors, it turned out that it was Vyjayanti Mala's performance that won critical acclaim. She won Filmfare's Best Actress performance for Dhanno's role. The movie's excellent photography also won a Filmfare award and so did the dialogue writer.

After many years, Yash Chopra made this same story (a mixture of "Mother India" and "Gunga Jumna") in a modern setting as "Deewar (1975)." This movie also has the similar theme, injustices done by a mill owner to its labor force, a devoted mother raising two sons one of whom turns out "bad" and the other becomes a police officer who upholds the law. This movie catapulted Amitabh Bachchan to undeniable stardom.

For this movie, Naushadji's music again is on the mark. All songs are from an original soundtrack album except the extended ones that were ripped from a DVD. I will upload all these songs in two back-to-back posts.

Here are the details of the songs and songs themselves in the first post...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Mar 15 2011, 11:59 PM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Gunga Jumna (1961)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this beautiful album...

[swarapriya]

(Kishore) Chalti ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Songs from this breezy and beautiful album were recently uploaded in the "Three Reigning Queens" thread in this directory and are available starting at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...1503&st=602

[swarapriya]

(Dev) House No. 44 (1955)

Here is yet another beauty from the combination of Dev-SD-Sahir. Incredible it may seem but this threesome association has produced some everlasting musical melodies. Continuing their success from their previous outings like "Baazi (1951)", "Jaal (1952)", and "Taxi Driver (1954)" they do it again in this movie. It has several lovely songs like both of the solos by Hemantda, "Chup Hai Dharti" and "Teri Duniya Mein" and one of my all time favorites of Lata, that melodious number "Phaili Hui Hai". Lata oozes so much sweetness into this song that you succumb helplessly to its lovely lyrics, rich composition, and emotionally romantic tinge in her singing. Pure sublimal divinity.

I am posting these songs in back-to-back three posts. The first two posts contain all the songs from the movie form an original soundtrack album. The third post contains some specials.

Now for the details of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves ...